“I can’t help it.” She sniffles, and a few tears start rolling down her cheeks. “I love you girls so much.”
We all exchange looks, then step forward at the same time to wrap Poppy in a group hug. Like all the years before, we exchange laughter and hold one another close, and by the time we back away, we have to wipe tears from our cheeks.
Alina clears her throat and straightens her shoulders, a princess even when she doesn’t mean to be. “Are we ready?” she asks.
I wasn’t sure I’deverbe ready for this moment, but I find myself nodding. It’s time.
Lyra loops her arm through Alina’s, and I take Poppy’s.
And together, the four of us walk out of the dorm room and into the stairwell, where Raelan is waiting for us, as always.
Together, we walk forward toward the rest of our lives.
THE GRADUATION CEREMONY IS HELD on the campus grounds, in the center of the main courtyard. Rows of chairs have been set up in careful lines, and a raised platformstands at the front, draped in purple and silver banners—Coven Crest colors.
The castle stands tall and proud behind the dais, stone towers reaching for the pale blue sky, with flags flapping in the warm breeze. The sky looks clear now, but in the distance, I can feel a storm moving in, gathering just over the horizon.
The fourth-years are seated in the first few rows, with the rest of the chairs occupied by friends and family. I turn in my chair to glance through the assembled faces, and a big green orc catches my eye.
My stepbrother, Aric. He’s sitting next to my mother and stepfather, grinning like a fool, his tusks gleaming in the summer light.
“Hey, Pops.” I jostle her arm.
“Hmm?” She turns and catches sight of Aric, and she raises one hand to wave, her cheeks already turning pink.
Those two are so damn sweet together.
“You’re going to have the cutest babies,” I tell her.
Immediately, her lavender eyes go wide, and she stutters, “B-babies?”
With a laugh, I turn back around in my seat and ease my arm around Poppy’s shoulders, giving her a squeeze. “I will always love teasing you. You know that, right?”
Her glasses wink in the sunlight as she gives me a smile and a nod. “I know.”
On my other side, Lyra is looking around, and I can tell when she sees who she’s been looking for. I follow her gaze, and sure enough, I find Cairn, the former minotaur groundskeeper of Coven Crest, standing in the shade beneath one of the towering trees, looking both clean and somewhat uncomfortablein his nice suit. The thick green grass is deep enough to almost hide his hooves.
“That suit looks good on him,” I whisper to Lyra.
She whips her head to face me, crimson eyes narrowing as a catlike smile curls across her lips. “Right? I can’t wait to get it off later.”
I laugh once, shaking my head. Then my eyes scan the crowd again.
But I still haven’t found who I’m looking for.
A ripple goes through the crowd, whispers rising into a murmur, and I turn back around in my seat to see that Headmistress Moonhart has stepped out of the castle and is standing on the stairs, speaking with...
“Is that theking?” Lyra says beside me.
It is, and everyone around us seems to notice him at the same moment.
He’s smiling at something the headmistress said, the crown nestled atop his head catching the sunlight and reflecting it back in tiny glimmers of light. Alina’s mother and father stand beside him—I recognize them from the Yule ball Alina invited us to our first year at Coven Crest.
The king lifts Headmistress Moonhart’s hand and presses a kiss to her knuckles, making the crowd titter.
I glance at Alina, and she rolls her eyes.
“He’s a shameless flirt,” she whispers as her grandfather starts down the stairs and toward the crowd, followed by Alina’s mother and father.
